By Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Missouri woman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a scheme to defraud the family of Elvis Presley of millions of dollars and steal their ownership interest in Presley’s Graceland estate, the Department of Justice said.
The DOJ said Lisa Jeanine Findley, 53, organized a scheme to conduct a fraudulent sale of the estate, where Presley is buried, by falsely claiming that Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie, had pledged Graceland as collateral for a loan that she failed to repay before her death in 2023.
Findley, who was accused of using a fake company, forged documents and false court filings to carry out the scheme, threatened to foreclose the property and auction it to the highest bidder if the Presley family did not pay the claim against the estate, according to the department.
Lisa Marie’s daughter, Riley Keough, who inherited the estate after her mother’s death, sued Naussany Investments – the company that Findley used in her attempt to auction Graceland – saying her mother had never taken out the loan and that Naussany was engaged in fraud.
As a result, the sale was blocked by a judge, which led Naussany to withdraw all claims to the property, which is a popular tourist attraction that draws more than 600,000 visitors a year, last May.
In August, Findley was arrested and charged with identity theft and mail fraud, according to charging documents.
She faces up to 20 years in prison.
(Reporting by Jasper Ward; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
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